1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel tank mounting structure for mounting a fuel tank on a vehicle such as an electric vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, an electric vehicle is receiving attention from the viewpoint of preventing the air pollution.
One of the problems with the electric vehicle is how to secure a space for storing batteries without sacrificing the compartment space. As a solution, there is known an electric vehicle in which a battery container box is disposed under the floor of a vehicle body.
The electric vehicle sometimes has mounted thereon a combustion type of heater for the purpose of heating the compartment. In this case, it is desired to mount a fuel tank for the heater with a better space efficiency.
In an electric vehicle in which the battery container case is disposed under the floor of the vehicle body, it is advantageous from the viewpoint of space efficiency to dispose the fuel tank on a rear side of the battery container box as close thereto as possible. If the fuel tank is arranged, like a conventional arrangement, to one which is made by coupling two halves which are horizontally divided into an upper half and a lower half by means of flanges on the horizontal planes, there is the following disadvantage. Namely, in order to prevent the front flange which horizontally extends forward from the front end of the fuel tank from coming into abutment with the rear end of the battery container box, there must be secured, between the battery container box and the fuel tank, a space whose dimension is the sum of the flange width and some allowance. This is a hindrance to improving the space efficiency.
In view of the above-described problem, the present invention has an object of providing a fuel tank mounting structure in which a fuel tank can be mounted with a good space efficiency and in which the fuel tank can be mounted easily.